Effective
Communication in an Organization
Introduction
Communication is an essential aspect in
organizational development and capacity building of its staff members. It is
therefore necessary to understand the proper channels of communication in any
organization. Leaders should practice good means of communication in order to
initiate transformation and growth of their staff. The health care sector is going
through major changes due to growth of technology, and hence the mode of
providing healthcare as also changed. Leaders should adapt to clear methods of
communication in order to eliminate chaos which arise due to improper means of
passing information within their organisations. According to Monter and Smith,
the healthcare sector has been faced by many challenges. This has hence created a need for the transformational leaders to communicate
effectively in order to curb these challenges (Monter & Smith, 2008). It is important
for hospital leaders to communicate frequently and effectively to nurses and physicians
in their respective organizations (Adair,
2010). Whenever a
change occurs in the health sector, the leaders should communicate with the
hospital staff in time. They should also provide a favourable environment for
the change to take place. In addition, they should also communicate to nurses
and other health workers to encourage them especially when they are overwhelmed.
This helps to assure them that the organization cares for their needs and also
appreciates their efforts. It is necessary for leaders to have competent
communication skills that will enable development of their organization and
staff. Effective leadership concerns with
adopting the best communication techniques to manage staff and transform the
entire organization.
Discussion
Within an organization, communication takes many
forms which include verbal, non-verbal and written documents. These are the forms
of communication which are adopted to pass information; and which changes
depending on the hierarchy of leadership within the organization. Good leaders should
be able to evaluate the means of communication to adopt wisely while passing
information to the hospital staff or their employers. They should prefer using a
clear and quicker method of communication while sticking to the norms of the
organization. Effective communication helps leaders to know what other
employees need at the right time. It also enables employees to create interest
towards their job and work hard to achieve the objectives of the organization;
open communication between leaders and employees, helps the staff to set
personal goals that are inclined towards the main objective of the
organization.
Underscore and
explore method of communication
This
method can be effective in the health sector if used in the right manner. It
will enable the employees to work effectively and develop a broad picture of organizational
goals. It discourages leaders from just giving reports in slides and files
without evaluating interpretations put forward by other employees (Shafer, 2000).
For instance, when talking about service delivery and customer satisfaction, it
is important to let employees speak about what they think is the best practice
of attending to patients. They should also be allowed to point out some of the
challenges they face and their possible solutions. In addition, a manager
should help employees to identify their position and role in the organization
by giving direction through effective communication (Clampitt & Cashman, 2000).
It is
important for leaders to allow the employees to ask the executive team
questions that relate to organizational goals and operations. They should also be
given time to evaluate decisions that are passed by the executive board in the hospital.
For example, nurses or health workers may choose to ask why the hospital
purchased a dialysis machine instead of mammogram equipment while both of them
are urgently needed in the hospital. The opportunity given to employees to
analyze decisions made by the executive enables nurses and other health workers
to have confidence in giving relevant advice to the management team of the
organization. During this process, leaders should give explanations about the organizational
goals and objectives since some statements may not have a clear meaning to the
nurses and other health workers.
This mode
of communication enables leaders to use employees in transforming the
organization because it keeps employees focused on the goals and objectives of
an institution (Green, 2008). However, there are several strategies which have
to be mastered for managers to be able to use this mode of communication. They include
breaking organizational goals into levels which all employees will be able to
understand. For the junior employees, the priorities of the institution should
be put in line with the organization’s theme. Leaders should further break the
theme into bits that are related to individual departments. For instance, if
the theme of the hospital is better healthcare for all people, a leader can
talk to the nurses about treatment of all patients equally in the hospital.
Nurses and other health workers should be allowed to modify the bigger picture
to fit their position.
While
leaders have a responsibility to control the flow of information, employees
should also be encouraged to interact and share useful information with each
other in order to discover the underlying issues. For instance, members of the
emergency department of South Coast Medical Centre in Laguna Beach have
developed a phrase that they use to indicate that there is a problem. The
phrase is “may I speak freely” to mean that what another nurse was doing was in
question (Sloan, 2006). However,
this is not limited to nurses and physicians only but also applies to leaders
in other different departments. Employees are enabled to seek for clarification
from the management department after a certain decision which they are not
contented with, has been made. Effective communication is important in an
organization because human beings work effectively when they join other people
who share the same vision. Open communication enables the organization and
employees to grow professionally.
Leaders
should also guide workers in their daily activities and closely monitor their
performance. This helps them to keep in mind the importance of working, and
work harder towards achieving the set objectives. Therefore, leaders should
have a lot of repetition, and redundancy in order to ensure that employees stay
on course. Repetition ensures that message which is passed across attracts the
attention nurses, and physicians, and hence enabling them to understand better (Hardina, 2006). It is important for
leaders to keep on repeating the message that they would wish to see other
health workers adhere to (Format, 2010). For instance, a message about how
nurses can increase patients’ safety, and reduce errors is an important aspect
that all physicians should learn therefore; hospital management can have cards
or postings on the wall that says, “Patients’ care is our responsibility” (Dubrin,
2009).
Although the
overall responsibility of leaders is disseminating and interpreting information,
they cannot be effective without the help from other people. Therefore, this
creates the need for opinion leaders in a hospital. They can be used to pass
information that allows nurses to change their behavior for the sake of
improving the standard of health care provision in a public hospital. Non-managerial opinion leaders have the
ability to influence other employees within their level. This is because
opinion leaders have the capacity to break down institutional goals in a simple
way. In addition, all organizations have opinion leaders that top most leaders
can use to influence other nurses and health care providers. Opinion leaders
can be people from major departments used to speak on behalf of other
employees. For instance, union representatives within a hospital set up can be
used to help the organization grow (Houston et
al., 2009). It should be noted that for leaders to communicate effectively they
have to make use of opinion leaders that interact with other employees on a
regular basis. An input made by opinion leaders is important because they set
acceptable norms in an organization, and if they show resistance in an idea it
is most likely that other employees will not support that idea (Miller, 2011).
Leaders
should use underscore and explore method of communication to ensure that
organizational goals are achieved and their staff members have a chance to grow
in their different fields. A good idea needs a suitable method of communication
to ensure that the message sent is interpreted in the desired manner. For
instance, a leader should create regular meetings with hospital staff to talk
about institutional progress and areas that need improvement. During the
meetings, they should also give an opportunity for employees to raise their
grievances. This method of communication helps in eliminating speculation and
rumors in an organization. In addition, it helps employees to develop a sense
of purpose and commitment in their roles. However, leaders should combine this
method with other means that can be used in case of emergency. For instance,
when there is a crisis in the hospital such as high number of casualties and
the administration requires people to adjust and take over other roles that
they would not do normally, use of internal memos and emergency meetings with
department leaders should be used.
Communication
should be a continuous process of engagement between leaders and other
employees. Therefore, leaders should use a clear mode of communication which
helps employees to express their opinion in a continuous process without
limitations (Chuwdhru, 2006). They also should be able to initiate dialogue
among their staff. Dialogue creates an opportunity for exchange of ideas between
employees and managers within institutions. It helps the leaders to know the
requirements and views of the employees. Leaders may then use the opportunity
to persuade the employees to come to a common agreement when the two sides seem
to have different perspectives towards an issue. A well guided dialogue can be
used by leaders as alarms because it enables them to bring out hidden issues
that can hinder productivity and transformation in institutions (Topping,
2009). Meaningful dialogue removes barriers that exist between leaders and
other employees because all people have the opportunity to contribute to the
wellbeing of an institution. Progressive leaders can use a statement that
triggers emotions among other employees to identify changes that are required
in ensuring achievement of set goals.
In
addition, a leader should have the capacity to interpret confusing information
to employees. In many cases of emergency, the staff members maybe exposed to a
lot of ambiguous information leading to confusion (Finkelman, 2006). When this
happens, employees are not able to work effectively because they do not
understand the environment around them. For instance, employees may not
understand why a hospital that advocates for equal treatment of patients had
different health packages that are offered to different people in relation to
the patient’s financial ability
(Rigolosi, 2005). In such a situation a leader needs to explain that a
hospital needs money to provide certain facilities while other services do not
cost much. For instance, clients who want special assistance and accommodation
in a hospital have to pay more for additional services that are not offered to
other patients. Therefore, formulating the right method of communication in an
institution eliminates any conflicts that may hinder the organizational
progress (Johnson, 2009).
On the
other hand, it is important for leaders to know the views of the employees.
Therefore, leaders should initiate meaningful dialogue and inquire information
about what staff members think, in relation to the organization. Leaders should
use “check the pulse” (Brody, 2005);
a process which helps a manager to gather information from employees in a
sensitive manner and at the right time. This method use simple surveys that are
administered to employees to gather their concerns. After the survey, a leader
formulates a report that presents rating of the outlined issues (Joint Commission Resources, 2007).
Once leaders collect that information, they can use the summary to address the
concerns of the employees in a timely manner, and in order of priority (Power et al., 2006). This method acts as a warning sign to leaders
on issues that they need to meet to avoid resistance from employees and
increase productivity. Another benefit of the method is the assurance that it
gives to nurses and other health workers that they contribute significantly to
the progress of the organization (Black-Charteris, 2007).
Therefore,
it is important for leaders to pass message that is clear and timely to nurses
and physicians. This is because employees need to know that the leaders value
their input in the hospital and that they are not overlooked. Involving all
employees in contributing towards a certain decision about the organization is
necessary. This is because they play the major of interacting with patients
everyday and their service will determine whether hospital will attract more
customers or not. For the hospital to attract more customers, they need to be
friendly to the clients. They are also aware of the challenges which the
organization faces and could possibly have ideas on how to solve them. This
method is therefore an easy way to address crucial matters facing the
organization, and for ensuring success in every department (Junarso, 2010).
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